Roof gap............where do I stand

SueP19

Hi hope someone can help.....
A few months ago my neighbour had their roof re-roofed. We live in a semi and as their new tiles on the rear are smaller than ours the roofing company inserted a bonding gutter underneath the join at the back (the front were the same size so they were married back together)
Upon getting our Christmas tree from the loft just we found that the roofers had left a gap (daylight) all the way down the rear of our roof, its big about 1 inch wide.
I wrote to the company to see what they had to say and enclosed pictures of the gap
I received a reply today saying "there does have to a slight gap" and "this is of no detriment to the property" Then pointing out that "if there were any problems with weather tightness it would have presented itself by now"......................My roof is ice cold, so much so that the snow we had recently was not melted by heat escape (our roof is slate with no under lay and we have no loft insulation)
Hopefully someone will be able to advice me on where we go now as the wind has gotten under the roof and some of the tiles have moved but only slightly
Sue

Optimist

I would suggest that you need to raise this with your neighbour. The contracters were acting under their instructions and it is their responibility to ensure the work caused no damage to your property

BlueAngelCV

Optimist wrote: »

I would suggest that you need to raise this with your neighbour. The contracters were acting under their instructions and it is their responibility to ensure the work caused no damage to your property

I agree that it is worth raising it with your neighbour to see if they can help sort it out but surely their responsibility rests with ensuring that they employ reasonably competent contractors. Unless they are some sort of cowboy firm I would think that they have discharged that duty.

I would write a further strongly worded letter to the company stating clearly that you do not accept their position & requesting that they come and rectify the problem to avoid legal action.

SueP19

Thanks........................now for the killer.............the neighbour works for the roofing company and her other half is a director of the company where my husband works...................we live in the middle of nowhere and our other neighbour (two fields away) is their father who owns the company my husband works for

This is why I went straight to the roofing company trying to keep it all professional

Optimist

The contractors were under contact to the neighbour not the OP, or in other words the neighbour was employing them. Legal action by the OP would be against the neighbour.


Unfortunately the roof wouldn't come under the Party Wall Act but it is highly probable that it does come under building regs the OP should check with the council that the correct process has been followed

I'm not sure why the OPs neighbour isn't already involved to get these roofers back to fix it. It seems highly improbable that leaving a gap in the roof is a recommended roofing technique...

The OP can also contact his insurance company they should advise.

Optimist

SueP19 wrote: »

Thanks........................now for the killer.............the neighbour works for the roofing company and her other half is a director of the company where my husband works...................we live in the middle of nowhere and our other neighbour (two fields away) is their father who owns the company my husband works for

This is why I went straight to the roofing company trying to keep it all professional

Get your insurance company involved and stand back.

paddyrg

Also try the DIY forums, you may find a proper roofer there for some more advice?

SueP19

Upon studying the reply letter I have realised the gap they are talking about is the gap between ours and their tiles

I had not thought about our insurance company

docmatt

Hi Sue.

Some fab roofers on DIY-not forum, join there and they will give you some good advice.

http://www.diynot.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=17

Your insurance won't want to know. BTW, a cold windy roofspace isn't that bad. Roofs like being fresh

Foggster

Contact your local council and see if they have some heating grants available so you can get some insulation up there.

DVardysShadow

Optimist wrote: »

Unfortunately the roof wouldn't come under the Party Wall Act but it is highly probable that it does come under building regs the OP should check with the council that the correct process has been followed

??? Why not, although it is not a wall, it is a Party wall type issue and I believe the legislation ids framed to deal with a range of scenarios.